The present invention relates to a catalyst component capable of providing a highly active catalyst for ethylenically unsaturated monomer polymerization when used in combination with a transition metal compound such as a metallocene compound. The invention also relates to a catalyst for ethylenically unsaturated monomer polymerization which comprises said catalyst component and a transition metal compound such as a metallocene compound and to a process for ethylenically unsaturated monomer polymerization using said catalyst.
Titanium catalysts comprising a titanium compound and an organoaluminum compound and vanadium catalysts comprising a vanadium compound and an organoaluminum compound have conventionally been known as catalysts for producing (co)polymers of ethylenically unsaturated monomers (sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9cethylenically unsaturated monomer (co)polymersxe2x80x9d hereinafter), such as polyethylene, polypropylene, poly-4-methyl-1-pentene, ethylene/propylene copolymer, ethylene/styrene copolymer and ethylene/propylene/butene terpolymer.
Ziegler catalysts comprising a metallocene compound such as zirconocene and an organoaluminum oxy-compound (aluminoxane) or a boron compound such as tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane have been known as catalysts capable of producing olefin polymers with high activities.
Further, catalysts comprising a nickel compound or a palladium compound and a co-catalyst such as an aluminoxane or an ionic compound have been proposed (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1995, 117, 6414-6415).
Because of their excellent mechanical properties, ethylenically unsaturated monomer (co)polymers such as polyolefins have been used in various fields such as for molded products. In recent years, there have been diverse demands for physical properties of the ethylenically unsaturated monomer (co)polymers, so that such polymers showing various properties have been desired.
Under such circumstances as mentioned above, there has been desired development of a novel co-catalyst component exhibiting an excellent polymerization activity and capable of producing ethylenically unsaturated monomer (co)polymers of excellent properties.
The present invention has been made in view of the prior art as described above. It is an object of the invention to provide a novel catalyst component capable of exhibiting a high ethylenically unsaturated monomer polymerization activity when used in combination with a transition metal compound such as a metallocene compound.
It is another object of the invention to provide a highly active catalyst which comprises said catalyst component and capable of producing polymers of high molecular weight.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a process for ethylenically unsaturated monomer polymerization using said catalyst.
The catalyst component for ethylenically unsaturated monomer polymerization according to the invention comprises a compound obtained by the reaction of the following compounds (i), (ii), (iii) and optionally (iv) in any order:
(i) a compound comprising a metal of Group 13 of the periodic table:
(ii) a compound capable of reacting with the compound (i) to be bonded to two or more of the Group 13 metal;
(iii) a compound capable of reacting with a compound comprising a metal of Group 13 of the periodic table to form an ionizing ionic compound; and
(iv) at least one compound selected from a hydrocarbon compound, a halogenated hydrocarbon compound, a hydroxyhydrocarbon compound, a silanol compound, a boronic acid compound, an organic carboxylic acid compound, an organic sulfonic acid compound, a hydroxylamine compound, a sufonamide compound, a ketoimide compound, an amide compound, an oxime compound, an amine compound, an imide compound, a diimine compound, an imine compound, a diketone compound, and metallic salts thereof.
The catalyst component for ethylenically unsaturated monomer polymerization according to another aspect of the invention comprises a compound obtained by the reaction of the following compounds (i), (ii) and optionally (iv) in any order, and then further the following compound (iii):
(i) a compound represented by the following formula:
MR1R2R3
xe2x80x83wherein M is an atom of Group 13 of the periodic table; R1, R2 and R3 nay be the same or different and are each a halogen atom, a hydrogen, atom, a hydroxy group or an organic group; and two groups of R1, R2 and R3 may be bonded to form a ring;
(ii) a compound capable of reacting with the compound (i) to be bonded to two or more M;
(iii) a compound capable of reacting with a compound comprising a metal of Group 13 of the periodic table, preferably with the reactor. product obtained by reacting the compound (i), the compound (ii) and optionally the compound (iv) in any order, to form an ionizing ionic compound;
(iv) at least one compound selected from a hydrocarbon compound, a halogenated hydrocarbon compound, a hydroxyhydrocarbon compound, a silanol compound, a boronic acid compound, an organic carboxylic acid compound, an organic sulfonic acid compound, a hydroxylamine compound, a sufonamide compound, a ketoimide compound, an amide compound, an oxime compound, an amine compound, an imide compound, a diimine compound, an imine compound, a diketone compound, and metallic salts thereof.
The compound (i) is, for example, an aluminum compound represented by the following formula:
RamAl(ORb)nXp
wherein Ra and Rb may be the same or different and are each a hydrocarbon group of 1 to 15 carbon atoms; X is a halogen atom; and m, n and p are numbers satisfying the conditions of 0xe2x89xa6mxe2x89xa63, 0xe2x89xa6nxe2x89xa63, 0xe2x89xa6pxe2x89xa63 and m+n+p=3.
The compound (ii) is, for example, at least one compound selected from the group consisting of H2O, H2S and compounds represented by the following formulae: 
wherein R4 is a hydrogen atom, a hydrocarbon group, a halogenated hydrocarbon group, a silicon-containing group, a germanium-containing group, a tin-containing group or an oxygen-containing group; R5 is a divalent hydrocarbon group, a divalent halogenated hydrocarbon group, a divalent silicon-containing group, a divalent germanium-containing group, a divalent tin-containing group, a divalent boron-containing group or a single bond; R6 and R7 may be the same or different and are each a hydrogen atom, a hydrocarbon group, a halogenated hydrocarbon group, a silicon-containing group, a germanium-containing group, a tin-containing group or an oxygen-containing group; each of R6 and R7 may be bonded to a carbon atom for constituting R5 to form a ring; and R8 and R9 may be the same or different and are each a hydrogen atom, a hydrocarbon group or a halogenated hydrocarbon group.
The compound (iii) is, for example, a compound capable of forming an ionizing ionic compound having a carbonium cation, an oxonium cation, an ammonium cation, a phosphonium cation, a cycloheptyltrienyl cation or a ferrocenium cation.
The compound (iv) is, for example, at least one compound selected from compounds represented by the following formulae:
R10X,
R10H,
R10OH,
R10R11NH,
R10COOH,
R10SO3H,
R10R11CNOH,
R10R11NOH,
R10CONHR11,
R10SO2NHR11,
R10COCH2COR11, and
R10C(xe2x95x90NH)CH2COR11 
wherein R10 is a hydrocarbon group, a halogenated hydrocarbon group, a silicon-containing group, a germanium-containing group, a tin-containing group or a boron-containing group; R11 is a hydrogen atom, an alkoxy group, or any of a hydrocarbon group, a halogenated hydrocarbon group, a silicon-containing group, a germanium-containing group, a tin-containing group and a boron-containing group each of which is the same as or different from R10; and X is a halogen atom.
The other catalyst component for ethylenically unsaturated monomer polymerization according to the invention is represented by the following formula: 
wherein each M may be the same or different and is an atom of Group 13 of the periodic table; n is an integer of 0 or more; Y is a divalent bonding group, and when n is 1 or more, plural Y may be the same or different; Z is a group capable of being bonded to one or more M; m is an integer of not less than 1 and not more than n+1; each Q may be the same or different and is a group selected from the following groups: 
(wherein R10 is a hydrocarbon group, a halogenated hydrocarbon group, a silicon-containing group, a germanium-containing group, a tin-containing group or a boron-containing group; and R11 is a hydrogen atom, an alkoxy group or any of a hydrocarbon group, a halogenated hydrocarbon group, a silicon-containing group, a germanium-containing group, a tin-containing group and a boron-containing group each of which is the same as or different from R10); A is a cation; and k is a number satisfying the condition of k=jm/r and is a valence of the cation A.
The divalent bonding group Y is a divalent bonding group selected from the following divalent bonding groups: 
wherein R4 is a hydrogen atom, a hydrocarbon group, a halogenated hydrocarbon group, a silicon-containing group, a germanium-containing group, a tin-containing group or an oxygen-containing group; R5 is a divalent hydrocarbon group, a divalent halogenated hydrocarbon group, a divalent silicon-containing group, a divalent germanium-containing group, a divalent tin-containing group, a divalent boron-containing group or a single bond; R6 and R7 may be the same or different and are each a hydrogen atom, a hydrocarbon group, a halogenated hydrocarbon group, a silicon-containing group, a germanium-containing group a tin-containing group or an oxygen-containing group; each R6 and R7 may be bonded to a carbon atom for constituting R5 to form a ring; and R8 and R9 may be the same or different and are each a hydrogen atom, a hydrocarbon group or a halogenated hydrocarbon group.
The group Z capable of being bonded to one or more M is a group selected from a halogen anion, a hydride, a carbanion, an alcoholate, an arylalcoholate, an alkylcarboxylate, an arylcarboxylate, a thiolate, a carbothiolate, a dithiocarbonate, a trithiocarbonate, a sulfonate, a sulfamate and a phosphate.
The cation A is, for example, a cation selected from the group consisting of a carbonium cation, an oxonium cation, an ammonium cation, a phosphonium cation, a cycloheptyltrienyl cation, a ferrocenium cation and metallic cations of Groups 1 and 11 of the periodic table, but not limited thereto.
The catalyst for ethylenically unsaturated monomer polymerization according to the invention comprises:
(A) a compound of a transition metal selected from Groups 3 to 12 of the periodic table,
(B) the above-described catalyst component, and
(C) an organic compound containing an element of Group 13 of the periodic table.
The catalyst for ethylenically unsaturated monomer polymerization according to the invention may further comprise a particulate carrier (D) on which only the component (A) is supported or the component (B) and/or the component (C) is supported together with the component (A).
The process for ethylenically unsaturated monomer polymerization according to the invention comprises polymerizing or copolymerizing an ethylenically unsaturated monomer in the presence of the above-described catalyst.